The Margaret Whiting Holiday Collection

Whiting was born into a musical family. Her father was the songwriter Richard Whiting, who wrote the music for many standards in his short life (he died when Maggie was 14) - including "Beyond the Blue Horizon,""My Future Just Passed,""She's Funny That Way,""Till We Meet Again,""Too Marvelous for Words" and "You're an Old Smoothie."

Maggie became a professional singer at a young age, and quickly showed that she had great talent - excellent intonation, clear diction, sensitivity to lyrics, lovely tone, and so on.

Her father's former co-writer, Johnny Mercer, brought her into the studios the day before her 18th birthday for a Capitol recording date that included her father's "My Ideal." It was the beginning of regular Capitol sessions, but it wasn't until five years later that Maggie set down a holiday song - and that's where our chronological review begins.

Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" was new when Whiting recorded it in May 1947. Hers was the first recording of this standard, and it's a good one, with backing by her frequent collaborator, bandleader Frank De Vol. Loesser did not intend his song to be a seasonal item - he pictured it being sung earlier in the year - but no one else seems to agree. This collection includes both Capitol's originally-issued take and an alternate.

These days, "While the Angelus Was Ringing" is better known by its original title, "The Three Bells." It is a Swiss-French song, first a hit for Édith Piaf and Les Compagnons de la chansons as "Les trois cloches." In the US, "Angelus" was originally more popular than the competing "The Three Bells," but that was to change, particularly following the Browns' 1959 hit under the latter title.

In common with many other American artists, Whiting recorded "Angelus" in 1948. (On the record label, Capitol managed to mangle the title into "When the Angelus Is Ringing.") Under any name, the song's simplicity and sincerity make it well suited to the season. Whiting herself was to record "The Three Bells" years later - we'll get to that below.

Maggie set down another new Frank Loesser song in 1949, this one definitely seasonal - "Baby, It's Cold Outside," here in a duet with Johnny Mercer. Paul Weston conducted. It's a good, professional version; I prefer a little more nuance, a la the Pearl Bailey-Hot Lips Page rendition.

Later in the year, Whiting was to go to work on several seasonal songs, along with a special Capitol promotional record.

First is "(It Happened at) The Festival of Roses," which is a nice song but only the most generous of judges would consider it a holiday item. Fortunately I am just such a benevolent character. The song is by Al Goodheart and Dick Manning, the latter of whom also wrote the words for "While the Angelus Was Ringing."

Whiting's big Christmas coupling for 1949 was "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" along with the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." The former, a Martin and Blane classic, came from the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. Maggie is suitably sensitive. For the contrasting latter number, she is appropriately bouncy. Polkas were popular in the late 40s - this entry is unexpectedly by the Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy, working with Constance Palmer. De Vol again is the bandleader, with the Mellomen as supporting vocalists.

"Season's Greetings from Capitol" was a fun promotional record from 1949 aimed at the jukebox operators of the nation. I first posted it last year; you can read more about it here.

Also in 1949, Whiting had begun recording with singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely. They were successful right out of the gate with a cover of Floyd Tillman's honky-tonk anthem "Slipping Around." The next year, Capitol decided to have them attempt some seasonal fare, and again the results were pleasing. One side was a cover of Livingston and Evans'"Silver Bells," which was written for the Bob Hope epic The Lemon Drop Kid. The Bing Crosby-Carol Richards recording of the song became a hit in 1950, well before the film's 1951 release.

Vocally, Whiting and the unassuming Wakely were well matched, and their "Silver Bells" is nicely sung. The backing is by yet another singing cowboy, Foy Willing, and his ensemble. It lacks impact and has little holiday flavor so the record was never a threat to Bing's disk.

Willing, Wakely and Jack Kenney collaborated on writing the flip side, "Christmas Candy," which is more lively. Musically, the song is strongly reminiscent of 1947's "Here Comes Santa Claus."

Whiting was to remain at Capitol for several more years, but no more Christmas songs were forthcoming from that label. However, let me add another "bells" number - 1952's "Singing Bells" by George Wyle and Eddie Pola, who were responsible for the Christmas classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." "Singing Bells" is sort of a clog dance, which you can do around your Christmas tree if you so choose. Lou Busch - then Whiting's husband - leads the band.

Also from this period we have an aircheck of Maggie doing "It's Christmas Time Again," a very good song by Sonny Burke, Jack Elliott and James Harwood that was introduced by Peggy Lee in 1953. The Whiting edition likely comes from a 1953 or 1954 Bob Hope Show - she performed it both years.

Let's zoom ahead to 1959 and Maggie's new home at Dot records. There, she remade two of the songs discussed above. First was a version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with studio vocalist Bill Lee, a member of the Mellomen group that assisted on the "Mistletoe Kiss Polka." Lee was a talented singer, but he is too bland for this song. This cut comes from the LP Margaret Whiting's Great Hits. It's one of those early stereo affairs with extreme separation of the two voices. At one point, they change sides, which I imagine is supposed to suggest Bill Lee pursuing Maggie. Russ Garcia conducts.

Next we revisit "The Three Bells," recorded in the wake of the Browns' chart success. The Whiting version, which comes from the LP Ten Top Hits, includes the tolling bells vocal backing ("bum, bum, bum, bum") identical to the Browns and similar to Les Compagnons de la chanson on the original. Milt Rogers was arranger and conductor.

Maggie was to produce no more seasonal records for another 20 years. For her 1982 album Come a Little Closer she included the obscure (and depressing) "After the Holidays," where she implores her mate to stay with her for one more season. As a downer, it is right down there with Gordon Jenkins'"Happy New Year."

Whiting contributed two numbers to pianist Loonis McGlohon's 1990 album We Wish You a Merry Christmas - "White Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." McGlohon was an excellent musician and these are accomplished readings, although Maggie's voice is not as fresh as it once was.

McGlohon's follow-up was 1992's A Christmas Memory. Whiting is heard on a remake of "Silver Bells," thankfully without Foy Willing.

The following year, Maggie recorded "The Christmas Waltz" for the album A Cabaret Christmas. Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne wrote the piece for Frank Sinatra. Whiting's rendition includes a bridge that sounds improvised; the entire performance is quite free, interestingly so. Her music director, Tex Arnold, is the pianist.

That's all we have from Maggie's sporadic holiday output. It's a shame there was no seasonal album from such an accomplished artist. This collection was assembled from a variety of sources, including Internet Archive and my collection. The sound is generally very good.